


Time to Bruise

by happilyappled



Category: Bandom, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Blood, Bruises, Fights, M/M, bloody frank
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-24
Updated: 2014-03-24
Packaged: 2018-01-16 22:10:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1363513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happilyappled/pseuds/happilyappled
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frank never thought he would know someone worth fighting for, someone who would care for his wounds in such a delicate way. That's the only reason why he keeps coming back for more.<br/>[To Lids.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time to Bruise

The first time was in the school parking lot and it left Frank completely out of breath. The jocks were in a circle around some loser and Frank went in with the crowd. Unlike them, however, he stepped into the circle as soon as he saw who was the poor guy being picked on.

It was his new neighbor, Gerard Way, the kid that had moved in to town due to his dad's job. Frank's mom told him he should start hanging out with Gerard and help him through his integration at school, but Gerard had refused his company in school since day one. This time, Frank just lost it when a jock knocked down Gerard's bag and another pulled on Gerard's long hair. The crowd either laughed or cheered on, but Frank stepped into it rather fiercely telling the guys to stop. Gerard murmured something, but Frank ignored it and threw himself at one of the guys' mocking face. 

A teacher or two were quick to intercede and in the end, Frank had a split lip, a sharp pain over his left eyebrow, scraped hands from having fallen to the ground, and a fiery pant to his chest.

*

The second time, Frank was totally provoked. 

Insults started raining down on him as soon as he started hanging out with Gerard at school, but Frank tried to ignore most of them for everybody's sake. The minute someone did something to Gerard, though, something inside him switched on and he flipped out. 

One day, someone thought it'd be fun to drop a can of soda over Gerard's drawing pad in English Lit class; another day, someone thought it'd be funny to embarrass Gerard in PE class; but the day someone thought it'd be a good idea to steal Gerard's favorite comic from his locker and shove it down the toilet, Frank simply couldn't handle it. He shoved his sleeves up his arms and shoved the bully into the ground, after class was over for the day and everybody ran outside. Gerard wasn't even around. He had gone home in a run as soon as the bell rang, without even looking back, so Frank took vengeance in Gerard's name. 

He fought with his whole being and ended up with a bruised mouth, a bloody nose, and certainly a few bruises on his shoulders because they hurt like fuck whenever he tried to roll them on his way home. When he got there, the sun was setting in the horizon and Gerard was sitting on his porch. Frank tried to grin up at him, proud of what he'd done in Gerard's defense, but his whole mouth twitched in pain.

*

The third time was after the finals. 

Frank was tired of being stuck at home doing so much studying for finals that he wouldn't even excel in, and he just wanted out. He wanted to have fun. There was no need to get really crazy about it, but it was always amazing when Gerard accepted his invitations and they went out together. Sure, hanging out at home was fine as well, just watching lame movies and throwing popcorn at each other's heads on every other Saturday night, but the nights had been warmer the whole week and Frank's mom suggested they went out instead of staying inside, so Frank asked Gerard. He probably only just came along because he's such a good friend, but Frank never meant to put him in trouble.

The music is loud in the bar they are in and speaking to each other is impossible, so Gerard leans in and shouts in Frank's ear that he wants to have a smoke. Frank agrees, but needs to use the bathroom first, so shouts it into Gerard's own ear and they take off in different directions. When Frank goes outside to join Gerard, there are two big guys talking to Gerard. Frank can't make out what they're saying, but Gerard's body seems rigid and he's pressed against the wall, hands shaking around the pack of cigarettes and his eyes cast low on his feet. This is always a sign of danger. Frank has to intervene. "What's going on?"

"Nothing. We just wanted to bum a cigarette and this pussy has two, but doesn't want to give them to us." Frank doesn't like inappropriate insults, so he just grabs the cigarettes and shoves one in his mouth, the other in Gerard's.

"Yeah, these two are for us. Sorry guys, you'll have to bother someone else," he adds, getting the lighter from Gerard's pants pocket and lighting up Gerard's cigarette first. Frank tries to sound and act cocky, tries to keep his shoulders up and rigid to add impact to his pose, but the guys are actually bigger than Gerard and him together, and this probably won't really work.

They merely scoff and muse, "Well if that's how you wanna play." And out of nowhere, one of them punches Gerard in the stomach. Frank flips out, obviously. He spits the cigarette out of his mouth and throws a few punches onto the guy's lower back, trying to lower his strength by hitting his kidneys, but then he's being pulled back by the other guy. He ends up being pushed out of the curb, straight into the middle of the road, and thankfully it's open.

Mid fight, Frank struggles against the guy's grip on his neck and, upon releasing himself, he looks out for Gerard. Frank sees him with his back against the wall, ducking his face under one arm and his other arm lashing out randomly to try and hit the guy who's attacking him, but the moment the guy knees Gerard in the stomach and Gerard cries out, Frank gets a strong kick in between his guy's legs. He launches himself at the other guy's back, yelling in his ear to leave Gerard alone. The guy laughs and his whole body shakes. Frank can feel it in his whole front as he makes sure to keep a grip as tight as possible. Even so, someone grabs Frank and shoves him down, Gerard crying out his name in the background. Through the corner of his eye, Frank sees him fighting back and grins.

Yet all Frank sees is red. He doesn't even remember the reason why he's fighting, but he likes this. It releases his tension and he's having a lot of fun, despite the pain. A hand hits his face a few times and he gets a few kicks to his stomach, and something hurts his knee all of a sudden, but Frank doesn't care. He punches and kicks back, seeing the other guy spit on him and Gerard – who is apparently doing okay, but then Frank is shoved back again by a firmer grip.

A security guard is holding Gerard by his forearms, so that's what this grip may be around Frank's torso. Someone must have heard the brawl and called security, but Frank still doesn't care. He spits on the floor and it's red, and actually the left side of his mouth feels quite tender. Basically, he's hurting all over, but his brain is fizzing with adrenaline. Frank grins when he's set safely on the floor on his feet and Gerard comes closer to him. He has a worried, painful look in his eyes as he shakes his head, but Frank bumps shoulders with him. "That was something, huh?"

"Yeah, something unnecessary," Gerard mumbles and shoves Frank away. "I even had an extra pack. What the fuck were you thinking?"

Frank laughs and laces his arm around Gerard's neck playfully. "You wanna fight, punk?"

Gerard scoffs and elbows Frank twice until he lets go, and then they walk home to measure the damage.

  
  
[Edit credit to its maker.](http://happilyappled.tumblr.com/post/75487610312)  


*

The fourth time is a really nasty one and Frank didn't see that coming.

He never goes home after a fight, and after three months since his first one, his brain already knows that he needs to visit Gerard first. Frank can't really think today for some reason. His head hurts too much and so does his left cheek, his chest and most of his body, if he considers it. His thighs pang painfully when he goes up the doorsteps and barely makes it to knock on the door, maybe even bangs his head on it because he feels himself slide down to the floor. He becomes so dizzy all of a sudden.

"Frank?" he hears, but when he looks up, there's nobody there. He supports himself with a hand on the doorframe, feeling blood rising to his mouth, but he can't spit on Mrs. Way's porch. He swallows it and waits with the remains of that awful taste on his tongue. He looks up again and sees Mrs. Way and Mikey coming towards him.

"Where's Gerard?" he asks feebly, mouth tilting to the side at the memory of what he just did. He feels his bloody mouth, his bloody nose, a tender cheek, scraped up hands and knees, maybe he ripped his jeans even more, and he can't forget how much the side of his head hurts too.

"What happened to you?" Gerard's voice asks hurriedly as Frank is helped inside by both his arms. He tries to grin at Gerard, but his mouth hurts and he whines.

Sooner rather than later, Frank finds himself in the Ways' familiar bathroom. The buzz in his head settles down a little when Frank sits up on the marble bench in between the door and the counter, and he lifts his eyes up when Gerard crouches in front of him with a hand on Frank's knee and the other under Frank's chin. "What did you do, Frank?"

Frank smiles again, lopsidedly this time so his lip doesn't hurt so much, and tips his head back with a burst of pride in his chest. He remembers everything very vividly, even though he took so long to walk all the way home in the rain. Not even all the pain in the world would make him forget how awesome he was today, though, how satisfied he felt at the end, how proud he was to spit next to one of the big guys' face and walk out of there on his own, as a winner. Nobody had seen it, but it was fucking magnificent. Gerard repeats his question and adds, "It'd better not be what I'm thinking. Frank, I asked you to—"

"He called you a pussy faggot," Frank justifies himself, looking hard into Gerard's equally stubborn eyes. They've been doing this for a long time, and Frank can't stop himself from defending his friends when it's necessary.

"He's an asshole, but that doesn't give you the right to be an asshole and beat him up," Gerard argues, getting up to open the second door to Frank's right. It's where they keep the first aid kit. Frank knows it's always filled with everything he might need, from antiseptic wipes to simple gauze pads and adhesive bandages since Gerard's mother is a nurse and always brings this stuff home. If it weren't for her, Frank would have to go to the clinic and he hates it there. They give him strange looks whereas Gerard just takes care of his wounds, even if he mostly complains about them and Frank's attitude. "I mean, look at you. This is by far the worst I've seen you."

"You should have seen Trevor," Frank scoffs, but shuts up when Gerard crouches back in front of him and slaps his left knee. "Ow!"

Frank whines again when Gerard presses something to his lip and it burns. Gerard replies harshly, "Oh! You're not so invincible now, are you? Well, suck it up." He keeps swabbing at Frank's visible wounds, mostly on his lips and eyebrows, and the antiseptic burns like shit, but whenever Frank hisses, Gerard presses even harder against the cuts, so Frank does suck it up and remains quiet.

At some point, Gerard inspects the side of Frank's head, which has been hurting since Frank was pushed down on the curb. He tells this to Gerard, who puts everything down on the counter and slides both hands softly over Frank's knees, looking into Frank's eyes now. He doesn't look stubborn anymore; he looks worried. Frank has seen this look a thousand times on Gerard and it makes him feel joy and regret at the same time. Joy because Gerard is a great friend who always takes care of Frank and who is always there for every moment, fun or solemn, but regret because so far nothing Frank has done has made Gerard like Frank the way he wants to be loved. While once he stood up for Gerard because he hates injustice, Frank now fights for Gerard because they're best friends and Gerard is a lot more than the loser in English Lit class who draws blood-thirsty bunnies that make Frank burst into giggles every time.

"Frank," Gerard says in a serious voice. Frank doesn't remember ever hearing Gerard sound like this, so sorrowful, honest and raw. That's why he only hums to say that he's paying attention. "I don't want you to fight for me anymore. It doesn't make sense. You're only hurting yourself. I'm serious."

"I know, Gee, I just—" Frank trails off, wiping his nose with his sleeve. When he puts his arm down, he sees blood. They both look down at it, and Gerard scoffs. He's shaking his head when Frank looks back up at him and grabbing another gauze pad, which he slides under Frank's nose.

"Press here," Gerard says, to which Frank obeys. His heart is somehow beating really fast and it's no longer the adrenaline of a fight. It's all those sappy hormones Gerard makes Frank get high on. Frank smiles to himself when Gerard goes back to his cuts and grazes, asking Frank if there might be more injuries. Frank nods because of course there are. He got his ass beat up before he went nuts and turned it all around to his advantage, blinded by the insults about himself, his mother but mostly about Gerard, and everything hurts now. He says so, and Gerard replies, "Asshole."

Truth is, after Gerard takes Frank's hands to cater to his bloody knuckles, Frank sighs. Gerard always does this to him, he's always so soft and caring. All these fights are no more than love brawls to Frank, but he can't find the courage to admit it. He can punch a guy in the balls for calling Gerard a faggot, but he can't muster the words to be fully honest with Gerard. It's too much for him.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Gerard asks, interrupting Frank's chain of thought.

"Like what?" Frank shrugs, feigning ignorance like he wasn't staring at the way Gerard's hands moved over his, focused on how they felt on his skin, on how strong they look despite Gerard's own fragility. Like every other day, Frank puts up a façade that he's the strong guy, so he shrugs like he doesn't understand what Gerard means. He wasn't going to do anything except watch Gerard attentively until he's done cleaning Frank's wounds.

  
  
[Art credit to the artist.](http://ray-tororo.tumblr.com/post/79147026355)  


*

The fifteenth time is the last time.

For the past year, Frank has come to Gerard's house with several wounds, from bruised hands to a bloody face, everything that comes with high school fights. Today, however, Frank was stuck in bed the whole time. There was no way he could conceal the black eye he has and the long gash that starts on the corner of his mouth and goes up to the middle of his cheek, not to mention his sprained ankle. His mom yelled at him when he came home limping and with a bleeding face last night, so today he hid in his room the whole day, curled up in bed with his mini stereo blasting out angry rock music that Gerard got him into since he came into the neighborhood. It's been a year and a half, but Frank doesn't feel so great about it right now.

What he doesn't expect is to hear heavy steps up the house stairs and to see Gerard bursting into his room completely unannounced. Frank sits up on the bed with difficulty because his ribcage hurts too and watches Gerard standing there in the middle of the bedroom, wild eyed, hand over his mouth, crazed up hair and his bag falling off his shoulder.

"What are you doing here?" Frank asks him, honestly surprised. They haven't talked to each other in weeks, after Frank had another stupid fight that ended up at the clinic because he needed stitches on his head. He was all better now, at least until yesterday.

"You weren't at school, Frank," Gerard replies, the look in his eyes turning soft and worried as he scans Frank's face, the same as any other day Frank came to him with bruises and wounds everywhere on him. "And Trevor said—"

"He teased me the whole day, asking me how you were, if you were as pretty now. What happened?"

"What do you think?" Frank shrugs, pointing at his face. Talking hurts a lot, but he has to explain himself. "They caught me outside the coffee house last night. I was out late after a fight with my mom, and when I came back—"

"Did you start it? Did you provoke them in any way?" Gerard asks in a hurry, with words so fast that Frank can't pick up their true meaning. He shakes his head because this time he didn't want to fight. He stopped fighting the moment Gerard said that he didn't want to see Frank again if he kept doing that to himself. "You didn't do anything?"

Frank shakes his head again, staring honestly at Gerard. He's caught off guard by Gerard dropping his bag on the floor and dropping to his knees, kissing Frank all of a sudden. Frank hisses and leans back at the pressure on his lips. "Ow! Ow! Ow!"

"I'm sorry!" Gerard shouts immediately, as Frank covers the left side of his face like he would magically stop the pain on his gash. Gerard cups Frank's jaw sweetly and apologizing again. "Did you stop for me?"

Frank chuckles at this question, but nods his head, staring into Gerard's eyes again. There's something different in them today. "I'm sorry I didn't stop earlier like you asked me to. I wanted to show you that I—"

"That was so dumb, Frank."

He assents silently, closing his eyes when Gerard touches the side of his face with the tips of his fingers. He gulps at the slight pain and leans his forehead against Gerard's to divert his mind from it. Gerard asks him, "Are you okay?"

"Not really. My mom's pissed at me because she thinks I got into another fight for no reason, I have a huge cut on my face that is in no way gonna heal properly, and the painkillers high has worn off a while ago. The only good thing is that my mom let me skip school, but I'm gonna miss you," Frank replies in a tiny voice, stuck in between feeling shy and the pain on his face. He didn't want this to happen like this, never thought the guy would beat him up without Frank provoking him first, but now he knew he was wrong. Yet he also knew Gerard cared the way Frank wanted him to.

"I'll come by every day, bring your homework and all that cheesy stuff," Gerard offers kindly, making Frank chuckle again. He opens his eyes and Gerard is there, with kindness in his eyes and an honest smile. "And if you want, I'll bring you more kisses."

"If that's your aftercare technique, I'm only gonna get into more fights," Frank teases, but whines loudly when Gerard thumbs at the underside of his black eye.


End file.
